Mr. Downes, the Missionary recently arrested by the Govern- ment
of Peshawar, does not appear to see the falsity of his posi- tion. He says he wanted to enter Kafiristan, a district in the Hindoo Koosh, and preach the Gospel there, so he went in dis- guise as a Mohammedan, and took a servant, carefully telling him not to tell any lies. The Government heard of his expedi- tion and arrested him, and he is very wroth and sorrowful, par- ticularly as he thinks Kafiristan would be an excellent place for England to hold. Just so, and therefore the very worst place for Government to be suspected of sending spies to. No English 'Governor would have prevented Mr. Downes from walking in -full canonicals from Peshawar to Khiva, if he liked, but we surely have some right to prevent a disguise which would cast discredit on our intentions. Mr. Downes should have gone full-dressed, and he very likely would have got through as Wolff did to Mecca, the people believing him insane.
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